


A Birthday Miracle

by imalwaysintune



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alcohol, Cute, Dancing, F/M, Food, Food mention, Kissing, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:28:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23676127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imalwaysintune/pseuds/imalwaysintune
Summary: “Hey do we remember 161? No direct spoilers but this story follows Tim and Sasha after they throw their little party for Jon.
Relationships: Sasha James/Tim Stoker
Kudos: 10





	A Birthday Miracle

“Well, Jon, I hope you enjoyed this little rendezvous I put together. I know you like to pretend you’re a sinister old man, but I can see in your eyes you really enjoyed it,” Tim joked, with a huge smile stretching across his face.

He saw Jon’s eyes scanning the room, making sure that everyone else had left and it was just the two of them. “Yes, Tim, you’re right. It was a very nice gesture,” Jon said timidly, the ghost of a smile passing over his face. “I just can’t believe you, Martin, and Sasha would go through all this for me.”

“Aw, come on Jon. You gotta give yourself some credit. You’re pretty cool when you’re not acting like a grumpy old guy,” At this Jon actually laughed, albeit a little breathy from it’s lack of use. Tim walked over to Jon’s desk where he sat and ruffled his hair, making it go everywhere.

Jon sighed and brushed the hair way from his face. He looked like he was thinking about something before he came to a conclusion. He stood up slowly and threw his arms around Tim, patting him on the back gently. Tim didn’t have time to react to the hug before Jon was already sitting back at his desk, his head buried in the piles of paperwork on his desk.

Tim decided to leave it for now, and slipped quietly into the hallway. He about jumped out of his pants, however, when he was greeted with an unknown figure in the hallway.

“Sasha! Jesus, you nearly made me shit my pants,” Tim breathed, leaning against the wall for support much like a dame.

“It’s not my fault you don’t look where you’re going,” Sasha chastised. “Look, I’m almost finished up in storage. Do you want to go grab a drink after work?”

“Hold on, are you asking me out on a date, Sasha James?” Tim was practically beaming, and couldn’t resist throwing in a bit of flirty banter.

Sasha walked down the hallway away from Tim without saying anything, just cocking an eyebrow before turning to face away from him. Though, he could’ve sworn he heard her say, “Something like that,” before disappearing around the corner.

While Tim was driving towards the bar he was to meet Sasha at, he couldn’t shake the grin that had ingrained itself into his face. He was jamming out on the radio, smiling at other passersby, earning him many looks of bewilderment. It didn’t kill his mood though, and as he parked in the parking lot of the bar, he tried to school his face so he didn’t look like a maniac.

When he stepped inside the establishment, his eyes immediately connected to Sasha’s. Instead of booking it over to her, he remained cool and tried to channel that into his walk. It made him look like a chicken, and Sasha could barely contain her laughter by the time Tim made his way over to her.

“What in the bloody hell are you doing? You look like an idiot,” Sasha said in between laughter, momentarily snapping Tim out of his façade. He sits down at the bar next to Sasha and places his face in his hands.

“Making a fool of myself, apparently,” Tim says through his hands, muffling the sound to the point where Sasha could barely understand him. 

“Oh Tim, you don’t need to do anything special to do that,” Sasha said, taking one of Tim’s hands from his face and lacing her fingers between his. It was the most intimate thing Tim had ever felt, and he had half a sense to not fall over in his chair.

He did keep some kind of composure though, as he held Sasha’s hand at the bar. He used his thumb to stroke her knuckles, internally screaming at the physical contact.

Their conversation was light, not talking about serious things they had to deal with at work. It was nice, and they laughed and drank until they felt like they needed to go somewhere else. 

Both Tim and Sasha stumbled out of the bar tipsy, arms interlocked so they could lean on each other for support. They piled into Tim’s car and turned up the music, going nowhere fast. 

They ran out of gas just as the pair pulled up to Sasha’s house, where Tim was meant to be dropping her off. The car sputtered to a stop in front of her house, and Tim had half the urge to laugh, it was almost as if the universe was setting them up perfectly.

“Shit, Tim, why didn’t you pay attention to the gas gauge?” Sasha asked, her voice light and airy from the alcohol in her system. 

“I was too busy looking into your eyes,” Tim flirted, resting his elbow on the console and putting his chin on his hand.

“And not the road? Damn, Tim you really need to step up your game,” Sasha joked as she mirrored Tim, their faces mere inches from each other. It took every ounce of Tim’s willpower to not close the gap and connect their lips, but he was willing to wait for her.

He could wait his entire life if it meant that he could kiss her once.

Maybe that was the alcohol talking, but Tim was suddenly overcome with an intense emotion. He leaned back in his seat and spoke softly, “I’ll find some way to get home. Thank you for giving me an amazing night, Sasha, really. I’m glad I got to spend Jon’s birthday having fun even if he didn’t want it to be with him.”

“Oh, come on Tim. You can just stay at my place. I have a guest bedroom and all the coffee you could want in the morning,” Sasha said, more sober than she probably intended.

“Ah, so it took you this long to try and get in my pants Sasha? Well, your evil little devil plan won’t work on me, cause I have standards,” Tim said the last word dripping with sarcasm, but he could see the flash of hurt that passed behind her eyes.

“Oh my god, wait, Sasha I was totally kidding, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. You’re totally up to my standards. If anything, you’re way above my standards and I am so lucky to have someone like you like some like me-” Tim was abruptly cut off by Sasha placing a single finger over his lips.

“I know, Tim. It’s just sometimes you need to learn to shut your mouth,” Was all she said, before getting out of the car with a wink.

Tim quickly unbuckled his seat belt and quickly grabbed the keys before getting out of the car and following Sasha, spouting apologies. Sasha just ignored him, walking up to her house, heading inside and expecting him to follow.

He was like a puppy on her heels, and when they finally got inside, he threw his arms around her shoulders.

“Sashaaaaaaaaa, I’m sorry. What can I do to get you to forgive me?” Tim pleaded, “I’ll do anything?”

“Anything?” Sasha’s eyebrow cocked up in a way that went straight to Tim’s soul, not that he’d ever admit it. He gulped as Sasha disconnected his arms from around her soldiers and turned around.

“I want you to prove to me that you love me,” Sasha said coolly, putting her hands behind her back.

“I... w-what?” Tim was short circuiting, Sasha’s words running circles through his head in a way that made him feel like he was going to pass out. 

“You heard what I said. We’ve been flirting back and forth for the past few years Tim. I want to finally give you a chance to give me a straight answer. Do you love me?” Sasha’s voice was calm, much calmer than how Tim felt.

He had prepared for this moment so much. He had run through every kind of scenario where he was finally ready to confess his feelings to Sasha. But now that it was actually here, he had stage fright. He thought he would be ready, he even had a whole speech written that was buried in a journal under his mattress. What he would give to have that speech with him right now.

Suddenly something clicked in his brain, and his body took over. He hooked his right arm around the left side of her waist and pulled her into him. He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes, which were looking expectantly up at him.

He relied on his instincts finally and connected their lips, wrapping his arm tighter around her waist, sliding his other hand along her jaw to cup her face.

It felt amazing. Her lips were so soft, and the way her body fit into his made him go crazy. Sasha groaned softly and gripped Tim’s shoulders, squeezing tightly. She smiled against his lips before moving back.

“There. Was that so hard?” She said, trailing a single finger down his jawline.

The rest of that night felt like a blur to Tim. Sasha showed him to the guest bedroom, sending him off to bed with a chaste kiss on the lips. It made his heart soar, and it took him hours to calm his mind and heart down enough to actually fall asleep.

When he awoke the next morning, the smell of bacon and coffee immediately hit his nose. His mouth was watering as he hopped out of bed and opened the door into the hallway. The smell of a home cooked breakfast was even stronger out here, and he followed the fumes all the way to the kitchen.

“Aw, Tim, you look like a little lost dog. When was the last time you ate?” Sasha asked, flipping pancakes on a griddle she had on the counter.

“Hmm, I guess the cake yesterday at Jon’s party. No wonder I was so drunk with only a few drinks,” Tim walked over to the coffee maker, grabbed a mug, and filled it to the brim. “Yum, my life force.”

Sasha rolled her eyes at this and smiled, finishing up breakfast and serving the both of them. 

“Do you think Jon is going to be any less grumpy today?” Sasha joked over her breakfast and coffee, just trying to make light conversation.

“It’s Jon, that question basically answers itself,” Tim joked back, finishing up his breakfast and helping wash dishes.

At one point, Sasha had turned the spray nozzle towards him and drenched him with sink water, much to his dismay. Soon enough though, the time came when they both had to leave for work or risk using late. Almost like a miracle, Sasha had a spare gas canister in her garage that allowed them to get to a gas station.

Sasha couldn’t stop rubbing the fact that she’s saved him multiple times already in his face. But even as he was rubbing it in his face, all he could do was smile.

Arriving at work, the pair realized how weird it might look if they showed up at the same time together. They agreed that Sasha will go in first, then Tim five minutes later. 

In the end, it didn’t matter though because everyone was too busy actually doing their jobs, much to Tim and Sasha’s surprise. Trying to shed their look of shame, they headed further into the Institute towards the Archives.

When they reached the door, the pair entered without knocking, much to Jon’s surprise. He looked like he had been deep in thought, reorganizing files that were scattered all around the Archives. He looked annoyed, yet almost grateful for the human interaction.

“How ya feeling, Jon? Feelings pretty old yet?” Tim teased, going over to ruffle Jon’s hair yet again. It was soft, surprisingly, and he found he liked touching it.

“Tim, we’re literally almost the exact same age. My hair is already going gray because I have to deal with all of you interrupting my work all the time,” Jon said annoyed, yet Tim could hear the edge of love that was in there.

They all loved each other, in their own way, even if they were all too proud to admit it. They really only had each other in this place, as all the other staff were so far removed or borderline evil that they had no reason to form actual relationships with them. 

So yeah, they loved each other. Mostly.

As if on cue to bring the whole squad together, Martin opened the door gently and froze when he saw the scene in front of him. 

Jon, sat at his desk, hair all messy from Tim. That same Tim sitting on the edge of Jon’s desk, turned towards Jon and laughing at the comment he just made. And Sasha, staring at the two boys with a goofy smile on her face, as if there was nowhere else she’d rather be.

“Oh, sorry, um, was I interrupting you guys? I can come back later...” Martin said, and started to close the door to the office before he heard Tim’s voice beckoning him back into the room.

“Come on in Martin, we were just making fun of how old Jon looks,” He said, picking up a strand of Jon’s gray hair off his head.

“That is not what we were doing at all. You guys were interrupting me, and I was working,” Jon said grumpily, yet he couldn’t hide the smile that was making its way onto his face. 

These are the days that really made Tim happy. It was these kinds of days that were able to chase away the nightmares and the dark thoughts that clouded his mind. But he didn’t want to think about them right now, so he chose to throw his arm around Martin and joke with his friends until Jon kicked them out.

The rest of the day went smoothly, and Tim’s mood was carried by banter with Sasha. Not only that, but Martin and Jon were also in high spirits. Everything felt right for the first time in awhile.

When the work day was finally over, Tim headed towards Artifact Storage to ask Sasha if she wanted to retrieve her car, but was interrupted when he was pulled into one of the hall closets by a dark figure. 

The figure had thrown an arm around Tim’s neck and a hand clamped over his mouth. He was about to scream when the figure leaned next to his ear and spoke, “So Tim, you thought you could start an office romance and fail to tell me about it?”

Tim all but rolled his eyes at the voice that spoke. Elias. He shoved off the older man and looked at him with disgust. “Really Elias? You’ve resorted to kidnapping now? What I do outside of work doesn’t concern you, so I’d appreciate you staying out of my business. This is low, even for you.”

“Oh please, I only care about it when you are distracting my Archivist from doing his work. I don’t care about what you and Sasha do outside of the Archives, as long as it doesn’t interrupt anything going on inside. Am I clear?” Elias purred, getting uncomfortably close to Tim.

Tim made a split second decision, and shoved Elias hard. He stumbled back and, for the first time, he looked taken aback. Anger flashed in his eyes, and Tim decided he didn’t want to deal with the consequences he had just brought upon himself. He shoved open the door to the closet and stepped out into the hallway, closing it behind him and booking it to Storage.

He was met Sasha exiting Storage, and the two collided, knocking Sasha over. Tim reached out his hand instinctively and caught her, but the force of her falling sent Tim toppling after her. They landed hard, with Tim on top of Sasha, though he landed on his elbows to avoid crashing his entire weight into her. It hurt like hell.

Sasha stared up at him expectantly, and Tim was confused until he realized that he was still on top of her. He quickly scrambled into a sitting position beside her and hit his tailbone on the smooth concrete floor. Ouch again.

Sasha stood on her own, brushed off the dust that had accumulated on her from being around old pieces all day, and held out a hand to help Tim up. He took it, bashfully, and slowly stood till he was facing her.

“Hey there, clumsy, you gotta be more careful when you’re making your way through a spooky haunted building, or you might run into a ghost instead of the love of your life,” Sasha said with a wink, before making her way down the hallway. 

Tim quickly followed her, stumbling over his words as he offered to drive her to the bar from last night to grab her car, to which she agreed. 

They piled into Tim’s car, and drove to the bar, the tension in the car becoming so thick you could cut it with a knife. Tim wasn’t sure why conversation was suddenly so hard to make, and the silence was deafening as they pulled into the parking lot. They sat there for a few minutes, just staring anywhere but at each other.

Finally, Sasha broke the silence and turned towards Tim, looking at him for the first time in almost half an hour.

“What are we Tim? What do you want us to be?” She asked. It sounded like the words were being dragged out of her against her will, and it hurt Tim’s heart to hear her speak that way.

Tim had to think about his answer carefully, so he just took a minute staring at a treeline in the distance. “I think... I would love for us to be something, Sasha. You’re such a wonderful girl and anyone would be lucky to have you.

“In all these years that I’ve known you, you’ve always managed to blow me away. You’re sweet, you’re kind, you’re witty. You are so perfect in every way, and it took me a while to realize that. All these years we’ve played this “will they, won’t they?” game and all I wanted to do was finally be like “they will”. I’ve wanted to make you mine for awhile now, I just didn’t know how to go about it,” Tim was pouring his heart out at this point, completely relying on his feelings to get his point across.

“I want to make you happy. I want to give you a life that you can look back on and smile at when we’re old and married. I want to grow old with you. I want to build a house and a family with you, and be able to invite our friends over and have dinner and laugh about stupid shit. I want you to become my life,” Tim felt the tears building behind his eyes. This was the first time he’d cried since his brother had disappeared, and it felt refreshing. It felt right, knowing it was because of his love for Sasha.

From the looks of it, Sasha was also crying. When Tim finished his speech, he saw a single tear roll down her cheek. He brought his hand up to her face and held it, using his thumb to wipe away the tear. 

“Fuck, Tim, I didn’t know you had that little love confession rooting around in your brain,” She laughed gently, and it tugged at Tim’s heart. 

“Can I kiss you?” He asked, hoping against hope that she fully reciprocated his feelings. 

She barely had time to nod before Tim was cupping her whole face and kissing her. He reveled in how soft her lips were, and how well her face fit in his hands. Sasha’s hand circled around Tim’s right wrist and drew him ever closer.

This day just couldn’t get any better.

When they finally disconnected, Tim had the courage to ask her to come over to his place, and, to his surprise, she agreed. He quickly texted her his address and then they were on their way in their respective cars. Tim was giddy again, riding the high of kissing Sasha for the second day in a row. Usually he couldn’t even get a second date, let alone a second kiss.

Most people were turned off at the fact that he worked at the Institute, almost like they believed he was a bad luck charm. All his dates seemed to go wrong in some way, no matter how many different scenarios he tried to set up. It was always once the girl or guy found out where he worked, they seemed to almost... fear him? The dates didn’t last much longer after that. He had basically given up on dating.

Until Sasha.

When they had met at the Archives, it was an instant connection. Conversation was easy between them, and there was plenty of banter to go around between them. It gained them a lot of curious glances from other people at their work, but they knew they were just friends. Until...

Until one day in the Archives, when Sasha was sorting through the Storage to find something Tim needed for a follow up. He had just been idly watching her as she sifted through what he thought was a mess, but she claimed she had a system.

He noticed how well her eyes had matched her outfit that day. And how her lipstick made her lips look incredibly appealing. And how well her body looked in the outfit she was wearing...

And he was suddenly brought back to the moment when Sasha waved the item he needed in his face, making some joke about staring that he couldn’t quite remember. He had laughed it off as a friendly gesture. There was nothing wrong with people thinking their friends were attractive.

But it kept happening. He would notice himself zoning out and thinking about Sasha. The way she looked, the way she laughed. Also, and he would never tell this secret to anyone as long as he lived, he had had a few sex dreams about her that had caused him to wake up more confused than ever.

And here he was, in the present, having just confessed all these feelings he had been holding back for years. He felt light and airy, as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. And in a way, a weight had been lifted. He no longer needed to hide his feelings from Sasha anymore. Whether she reciprocated them fully or not was a whole other story. She had barely said anything about it, just kissed him- which was more than enough, but-

Tim smacked himself in the side of the head. He shouldn’t let his thoughts get the best of him. He just needed to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. Not that Sasha was a horse, of course-

By the time the pair arrived at Tim’s flat, he had gone through every possible scenario that was about to play out. Most of them had turned out bad, but when he tried to reason with his brain why things would end out bad, it wouldn’t give him a solid reason. He almost felt sick, but when his eyes connected with Sasha’s, all was right again.

It was almost like she could read his thoughts and school her expression to respond to his crazy mind. It was another thing he loved about her; she was always able to get him to calm down and see the bigger picture instead of focusing on all the small problems.

He didn’t realize that he had a goofy smile on his face until Sasha walked over to him and looked expectantly with her own smile on her face. He quickly set himself in motion and led her up to his flat, opening the door for her and pretending to be a chivalrous gentleman, even bowing as she passed him in the doorway. 

This earned him an eye roll from Sasha, but the smile hadn’t left her face. She truly was beautiful. As he closed the door, his other hand shot out and caught at her right wrist, spinning her into him and pinning her against the entrance hallway, careful to not knock her into any of the knick-knacks that scattered the wall. 

“Please tell me, Sasha. Tell me you love me and that you want to be with me, or tell me that you just would rather be friends. It’s killing me that you’re playing coy with me,” Tim was practically pleading with her at this point. He couldn’t take the waiting much longer or he might explode. 

“Tim, will you be my boyfriend?” Sasha asked, completely throwing off Tim’s thought process. Apparently he hadn’t thought of every situation, as he had no comeback for this question. What had just happened?

“Sasha I... O-of course I’ll be your boyfriend! Are you kidding me?” He answered, mentally kicking himself in his head for sounding so desperate and taken aback. Sasha, though, was smiling as if she’d just won the lottery.

“You’re cute when you’re flustered,” Was all she said before connecting their lips once again. This kiss was slow and almost agonizing. It’s one that spoke the unspoken word between. It was a kiss that made up for the years of stepping on eggshells around each other when it came to their romantic lives.

Tim was beginning to lose count of how many times things had just clicked for him that day. Everything about it had been perfect. Everything from breakfast with Sasha, to messing around with his friends, and now coming home and actually getting to say that he was Sasha’s boyfriend. He hoped this feeling would never go away.

They sat in Tim’s living room for hours after that, talking about all the signs that the other had missed during their time as friends. The times Sasha had intentionally worn something more revealing to work just so Tim would notice and say something- he never did. The way that Tim’s eyes would linger on Sasha’s face when she was talking about something she was passionate about- she never noticed either.

It was easy for them to laugh at each other for being so obvious, but it was just as easy to laugh at themselves for being so clueless. 

Sometime in the night- they weren’t paying attention to the clock- Tim busted out drinks and made them martinis. Just like he’d hoped, Sasha was impressed and even clapped when he presented her drink to her. When you lived alone and had nothing better to do, you learn odd hobbies just to keep yourself from going insane.

So they drank, but not enough so that they couldn’t pay their full attention to the conversation they were having. 

Tim kept commenting on how beautiful Sasha was, and each time without fail, Sasha would blush and start tripping over her words. Tim thought it was the most adorable thing ever, so of course he kept doing it. He loved the way she would smile, and her ears would flair up red along with her cheeks.

He suddenly longed to touch her soft skin, so he did. Reaching across the small space that separated them on the couch, he cupped her jaw with his left hand, and placed his drink down on the table. 

She leaned into his hand, much like a cat when you pet it. Tim’s heart swelled in his chest and he grinned as he stared into Sasha’s eyes. Her eyes flicked all over his face and he suddenly wanted to know what she was thinking.

As if on cue, she spoke as she reached up to grab Tim’s hand in her own. “You know, I don’t know if everyone in the Archives is even going to be surprised or not. I get the feeling that everyone knew we were gonna get together more than we did,” She spoke, her hand squeezing his tighter.

This made Tim chuckle as he spoke. “I think you’re right. Though, I think we might give Jon a heart attack if we tell him. He’s so invested in his work all the time that he barely pays attention to anything else anymore.

Sasha looked sad at that, sighing before speaking. “Well, guess he can find out when he gets an invitation for our wedding.”

“That’s only if you can get to the status of “engaged” with this sexy fellow,” Tim joked while puffing out his chest and putting on a “big guy” attitude, which earned him a belly laugh from Sasha. It was wonderful to hear.

Abruptly, Tim got up from the couch with bravado and walked over to his Bluetooth speaker. He connected his phone to it as Sasha stared him with a goofy grin on her face. Music began to fill the room, slow and classical.

Tim walked up to Sasha, sat on the couch and extended a hand, which she took immediately. She was swept off the couch as Tim practically yanked her up and into his arms. He was rewarded with a yelp and a look of embarrassment on her face.

“What are you-” Sasha began before Tim started to dance with her. He spun her gracefully, and held her against him as they swayed gently to the music. 

Soon she got the idea and danced skillfully with him, taking the lead sometimes, much to Tim’s surprise. He let her take the lead and laughed heavily when she dipped him. As he was staring up at her, her smile was real and chaotic, and it caused his face to mirror hers. He was so happy. 

He leaned up his body enough to kiss her once more, quickly, and was rewarded with her chasing his lips when he pulled away. 

“Ah ah ah, we can’t be too greedy, now can we?” He said before standing up fully. All of a sudden, waves of exhaustion rolled over him and all he wanted to go to bed.

He reached for one of Sasha’s wrists and held it with both hands. He looked down at the ground and his voice came out weakly. “Will you stay with me tonight?”

Sasha tilted his face up with a single finger under his chin and smiled at him gently. “Of course I will. I just might need to borrow some of your clothes because I didn’t bring my own.”

It took all of Tim’s willpower to not jump around the whole living room. Instead he just nodded and led Sasha to his bedroom, where he threw a pair of his sweatpants and an old t-shirt. She got dressed in the bathroom and when she came out, Tim was shirtless and in old basketball shorts.

Sasha walked over to him and placed both of her palms flat on his bare chest, and the feeling sent shivers up Tim’s spine.

“Thank you for today,” Was all she said before she walked over to the bed and got under the covers. Tim was stuck in place until he finally snapped out of it and also got into bed, turning off the light on the way.

And they slept, better than either of them had in a long time. When they awoke in the morning, they found themselves tangled in each other. Everything was exactly as it was supposed to be, and neither of them were inclined to change that. 

The End

P.S. they lived happily ever after and married each other and nothing bad ever happened to them and they grew old together and if anyone says anything otherwise i’ll be mad >:(

**Author's Note:**

> This one took me forever ahh!! I worry that it’s boring in some parts and that they aren’t exactly in character but i’m still proud! I wanted to try writing a longer one and that’s how this was born! I hope you enjoyed and don’t be afraid to hit my ask box on tumblr!
> 
> imalwaysintune


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